"This morning, a maid carried you in," the doctor said, checking a clipboard. "Crying her eyes out. She said she found you face-down in a pool of blood."
Lily...
She must have checked on him when he didn't come out for dinner.
I really owe her one, Alex thought. Maybe I should buy her that limited edition maid headband she was eyeing in the catalog.
"You were infiltrated by Recoil Energy," the doctor continued, tapping her pen against her lip. "Your internal organs were nearly turned into pâté. If you'd been brought in five minutes later, I would be doing an autopsy right now instead of a checkup."
"Damn."
It was worse than he thought. He had literally almost killed himself trying to turn on the ignition.
"Did you activate your Internal Circuit?" she asked, her eyes narrowing behind her lenses.
"Yes. Right after that, I coughed up a lung and blacked out."
"Do you know the condition of your Internal Circuit?"
"No. I assumed since I'm an Edelhart, it would be... good?"
"Good?" The doctor scoffed. "Look at this."
She pulled a sheet of paper from the clipboard and held it up to his face.
"This is a mana-scan of your body."
Alex squinted. He expected to see a neat circle, or maybe a cool geometric pattern.
Instead, it looked like a child had scribbled furiously with a black crayon. It was a tangled, chaotic mess of lines, knotted and twisted upon itself.
"That looks... complicated," Alex muttered.
"Complicated?" The doctor laughed, a dry, cynical sound. "It's a disaster. It looks like a pair of earphones left in a pocket for three years. Even a hereditary disease worsened over three generations wouldn't look this bad."
She pointed a manicured nail at the center of the mess.
"Normally, a circuit is a highway. Yours is a labyrinth. The mana goes in, gets confused, hits a dead end, and explodes. That friction creates Recoil Energy, which is basically poison to the human body."
She leaned in close. Her coat fell open slightly more, giving Alex a VIP view of her anatomy, but her tone was deadly serious.
"You survived only because the input was cut off instantly. If that circuit had run for even 0.1 seconds longer, your heart would have burst."
[Thank me later.]
The System's voice echoed in his skull.
Alex froze.
So that's what happened, he realized. The System pulled the plug.
For the first time, he didn't feel like cursing the AI. It had actually saved his life.
"..."
"Don't ever think about activating your Internal Circuit again," the doctor warned, straightening up and finally closing the view. "Next time, you really will die. No maid can save you from a exploded heart."
"I understand," Alex whispered.
"Good." Dr. Elise scribbled something illegible on the chart. "Stay here for the night. A good day's rest and you should be able to move. We'll decide tomorrow if you can be discharged."
She turned to leave, her heels clicking rhythmically on the linoleum floor. As she walked away, the back of her lab coat fluttered open, revealing that the hospital's "no shirt" policy.
"Oh," she paused at the door, looking back over her shoulder with a knowing smirk. "By the way, your maid is waiting outside. You should call her in. She seemed quite... distressed."
With a final wink, she vanished into the hallway.
Alex lay alone in the silent room, staring at the ceiling.
"This world is trying to kill me," he muttered, closing his eyes. "But at least the view is nice while I'm dying."
Sitting up he cleared his throat, which still tasted like iron.
"Lily?"
BANG!
The door didn't just open; it flew open.
"Master!!"
Lily burst into the room like a hurricane in a maid outfit. Her eyes were puffy, her nose red, and her usually pristine apron was rumpled.
She saw him sitting up, alive, and let out a sob that sounded like a wounded animal.
"Oh, thank the gods! You're awake!"
She crossed the room in two strides and launched herself at him.
"Mmph!"
Alex didn't even have time to brace himself.
She hugged him. Hard.
His face was instantly buried in the valley between her massive breasts. It was soft. It was warm. It smelled of tears and vanilla.
"I was so scared!" Lily wailed, rocking him back and forth. "When I found you on the floor... all that blood! I thought you were dead! If anything had happened to you, how could I ever face the Duke and Duchess? I would have to commit seppuku right there!"
"Mmmph... mmm..."
Alex sat motionless, his face smothered.
This is it, he thought, his brain flooding with dopamine. This is the way I go. Smothered by my maid's jugs in a fantasy hospital. Write this on my tombstone.
For the first five seconds, it was pure bliss.
By second ten, the lack of oxygen became a concern.
By second fifteen, the survival instinct kicked in.
Can't... breathe...
"Mmmph!!"
Alex flailed his arms, patting her back frantically. He tapped out like a wrestler in a chokehold.
"Oh!"
Lily realized what she was doing and pulled back.
"Gasp! Haa... haa..."
Alex fell back against the pillows, his face beat-red, gasping for sweet, sweet air.
Lily covered her mouth, giggling awkwardly through her tears. "I-I'm sorry, Master! I was just so relieved!"
"Do you..." Alex wheezed, pointing a shaking finger at her chest. "Do you want to kill me with those things? Is this an assassination attempt?"
"I said I was sorry!" Lily sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Are you okay now?"
"I'm alive," Alex managed, finally regulating his breathing. "Barely."
Lily's expression shifted instantly. The tearful relief vanished, replaced by the stern, terrifying aura of a head maid.
"What were you even doing in the training room to be so injured?" she demanded, hands on her hips.
"I..."
"Don't lie to me," she cut him off. "Dr. Elise said your insides were almost scrambled. From now on, you are prohibited from entering the training room. I'm locking it. I'm swallowing the key if I have to."
"Calm down, Lily," Alex sighed, raising his hands in surrender. "I just overworked myself. I didn't know my own limits."
"I am not hearing any excuses!" Lily shouted, her voice cracking. "What if I wasn't there? What if I hadn't come to check on you? You would have died on that cold floor, all alone!"
Her lower lip trembled again.
Alex closed his mouth. He looked at her—genuinely terrified, genuinely caring.
'This isn't the time to argue,' he decided. 'She's running on pure adrenaline and loyalty.'
"Okay," Alex said softly. "I'm sorry for making you worry. I'll be careful."
Lily sniffled, nodding. "You better be."
"Did you inform the Academy?" Alex asked, changing the subject before she could ban him from walking too fast.
"Yes," Lily said, smoothing her apron. "I sent a message to Professor Cassandra. She said to focus on recovery and that your attendance for tomorrow is excused."
"Good."
Alex leaned back, exhaustion finally catching up to him.
"I'm just going to rest for a bit."